Viktor Gecas

Social class and self-esteem : psychological centrality, compensation, and the relative effects of work and home

In this study we examine how the processes of psychological centrality and compensation affect the relationships between social class (as well as other structural and contextual variables) and self-esteem. We propose that the muted relationship generally found in research on social class and self-esteem is due largely to the uncontrolled influence of the self-esteem motive

Self-Agency and the Life Course

The course of our lives is shaped by many forces and events, not the least of which by ourselves. For good and bad, we are to a large extent architects of our life course. Within the constraints imposed by biology, history, social structure, good and bad fortune, and other factors we may or may not be aware of, we try to control the direction of our lives by exerting our will, pursuing our goals, and affecting our circumstances. While we are indeed products of social and physical forces, we are also causal agents in the construction of our environments and ourselves.

Social Class, Occupational Conditions, and Self-Esteem

This study is an attempt at further specification of the relationship between social class and self-esteem. We argue that the effects of social class on self-esteem are largely experienced through occupational conditions which affect the self-evaluation dimensions of self-efficacy and self-worth. We examine these relationships, with the use of path analysis, for a sample of working men. The path model considers the direct and indirect effects of social class (socioeconomic status and education) on occupational conditions (work complexity; control over work; degree of supervision and routinization), on dimensions of self-evaluation (self-efficacy and self-worth), and on general self-esteem. We found the direct effect of our social class indicators on general self-esteem to be small and insignificant. But occupational prestige was significantly related to occupational conditions, which in turn were significantly related to self-worth and self-efficacy. Education had a direct effect on self-efficacy and self-esteem and an indirect effect on self-esteem via self-efficacy and job complexity. Of the two dimensions of self-evaluation, self-efficacy had a substantially stronger effect than self-worth on general self-esteem. These findings support our expectation that the effects of social class on self-esteem are largely mediated by occupational conditions which affect primarily the efficacy dimension of self-evaluation.

Sexual Behavior as Symbolic Interaction

Abstract The aim of this paper is to systematically apply a sociological perspective, specifically that orientation known as symbolic interactionism, to the area of human sexuality. Our task is both conceptual and empirical. At the conceptual level, we have attempted to interpret and view sexual behavior through the concepts and assumptions provided by the symbolic interaction perspective. At the empirical level we have tried to organize research findings in this area which could be incorporated into this perspective. Suggestions have also been offered on future directions for theoretical development with reference to human sexuality. In short, our purpose is to see how far we can go in viewing sexual behavior as symbolic interaction.

Social Class, Occupational Conditions, and Efficacy-Based Self-Esteem

This study examines the relationship between social stratification and self-esteem by focusing on aspects of stratification and self-esteem formation processes ignored in previous research. An analysis of theoretical developments and empirical research reveals that the exclusive focus on occupational status and self-esteem derived from interpersonal comparison processes ignores an entire dimension of the relationship between social stratification and self-esteem—that between social class (in the Marxian sense) and self-esteem derived from the experience of self-efficacy. We provide evidence here that supports a hypothesized relationship between social class and occupational conditions that constrain or enable the experience of self-efficacy and self-esteem. Our findings suggest that carefully distinguishing between class and status, and recognizing the multiple processes of self-esteem formation, can improve our explanation of variation in self-esteem with reference to social stratification.

Birth Order, Self-Concept, and Participation in Dangerous Sports

We examined the effect of birth order on participation in dangerous sports, using data from a mail survey of 841 members of the United States Parachute Association drawn from the membership list of over 18,000; 52% (N = 436) responded. The questionnaires included detailed information on participation in leisure activities, background characteristics, reasons for parachuting, and self-concept; answers were obtained from an overwhelmingly middle-class, White, male, young, and college educated sample. The findings (based on descriptive statistics, correlations, and regression analysis) did not support our expectations regarding birth order and participation in dangerous sports. Several were even in opposite direction to our expectations. We did find some support for our expectation that self-efficacy would be positively related to participation in dangerous sports, but not for our expectation that self-efficacy would be related to birth order. We concluded that birth order continues to be a frustrating variable in studies of socialization.

Injury and Depression: The Mediating Effects of Self-Concept:

This study further specifies the relationship between injury, self-conceptions, and depression. With the use of path analysis, we look at the direct and indirect effects of pain and work limitation associated with a job-related injury on self-efficacy, self-esteem and depression for a sample of injured workers (N = 1,037). As expected, we found that self-efficacy and self-esteem are negatively associated with depression, while work limitation and pain are positively associated with depression. We also found that work limitation has additional indirect effects on depression through its effect on self-efficacy and self-esteem. Pain has an additional indirect effect on depression via its effect on self-efficacy and work limitation. These findings support our expectation that self-concept significantly mediates the relationship between physical injury and depression.

4. Perceived Parent-Child Interaction and Boys' Self-Esteem in Two Cultural Contexts

The problem under consideration in the present paper deals with the relationship between parent-child interaction patterns and the child’s self esteem. The relationship between these variables will be examined in the context of samples drawn from two societies: Saint Paul, Minnesota and San Juan, Puerto Rico.’ It is hoped that a cross-cultural investigation of the effects of parent-child interaction on the child’s self esteem will enable us to make a

Birth order and self-concept in adolescence

The effect of birth order on self-concept was examined in a sample of adolescent boys and girls. Based upon self-theory, which suggests that the two main processes of self-concept formation (e.g., reflected appraisals and social comparisons) are affected by the power and role relationships associated with ordinal position in the family, several hypotheses were tested: (1) The self-evaluations of only and oldest children are more positive than those of younger siblings; (2) middle-borns have the lowest self-evaluations; (3) these relationships are affected by the sex and spacing of nearest sibling; and (4) the self-conceptions of oldest and only children are more similar to those of their parents than the self-conceptions of younger siblings and their parents. Using analysis of variance and several different measures of self-evaluation, very little support was found for any of these hypotheses. The strongest support was found for the hypothesis on middle-borns, but even these relationships were not large. Several explanations are offered for these weak and inconsistent findings.

Symbolic Interactionist Reflections on Erikson, Identity, and Postmodernism

Erikson theorized about identities as both typified epigenetic outcomes and adaptations to cultural-historical circumstances. Neo-Eriksonians have emphasized the former, with a more narrow focus on the identity struggles of adolescents. Postmodern theorists have strongly emphasized the latter. Reflecting a postmodern perspective, Rattansi and Phoenix (1997) emphasized the ephemeral and manipulated aspects of contemporary identity dynamics that diminish self and weaken core self-understandings. We argue for a symbolic interactionist perspective that incorporates both perspectives on identity within a theoretical scope that posits selves as embodied agents struggling for meaningful identities by adapting to their social and physical environments and sometimes working to change these environments through individual and collective action.